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I grew up playing Pokémon; Pokémon Ruby was, in fact, my first mainline Pokémon game, so May kind of was my first "avatar" in video games, so to speak. As a kid, I also grew up with the Pokémon anime and movies, so I found a bit of myself seeing the girls in Pokémon in their cool outfits going out on big adventures. (Sorry, Zelda and Princess Peach. You didn't have cool sporty clothes.)

I started this cosplay not too long after wearing my Great Jaggi armor, while taking a break from my Young Link build. The armor hadn't been super comfortable, so I wanted to do a complete 180 and build a costume meant to be as cozy as possible. I knew my next con would likely be a summer con (I was right; the next one I went to was Otakuthon 2022), and I had a lot of leftover fabric from Caeda (red and white) and Link (green), so, combined with my Pokémon nostalgia making me replay my old games at that time, I picked May's Emerald look as a stash-busting project.

May is almost entirely made from things I already had at home; the only items I had to buy was the wig, the waist bag, and the spheres to make the Pokéballs. The vest was patterned by hand by laying a muscle top flat and tracing the shapes, the bandana was draped and sewn together, the symbol then painted with white fabric paint. The shorts and shoes were from my closet, and the wig was cut and styled to emulate May's bangs. The pokéballs were built on top of cheap christmas ornaments with EVA Foam details.

May was very confortable for the summer con I took her to; by the time the con rolled around I was a lot more excited about Pokémon Legends: Arceus and the Warden Ingo cosplay I completed after this one, but May nonetheless proved to be a pleasant friday experience, especially since it'd been the first time in years I wasn't sweating bullets at a convention. My only regret is having so few photos of the costume! I've retired the cosplay since, since the red fabric kept bleeding on everything I owned, unfortunately, but I hope someday to either revisit her, or cosplay another Pokémon protagonist! Those retro-colorblock outfit designs of the first few generations are just a treat to look at.

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